As a result of newly developed composite materials for use in the manufacturing of aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 aircraft, the need to deliver lighter-weight, more fuel-efficient, aircraft is paramount to aircraft manufacturers for generating cost-savings for both the customers and the aircraft manufacturers themselves. The weight management approach to cost-savings is also useful in all other areas of manufacturing, from new aircraft to retrofitting old aircraft, and with the use in next generation spacecraft as well.
As part of the need to reduce weight on aircraft and spacecraft, engineers typically look to the single most blatant offender: copper wiring. Copper is the most widely used conductive material for electrical wiring, but it is also an extremely expensive material, as well as being extremely heavy when bundled together with other wires and cabling. Thus, the most egregious contribution to weight on aircraft is attributed to copper wiring.
One solution to reduce the weight of the copper wire involves using polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon®) coated copper wire, which is significantly lighter than the traditional wire insulation, but which has been reported to be more delicate and fragile. If this is the case, and Teflon® insulation is that fragile, then such light-weight wiring comes at a cost, which is the need for special handling of the long lengths of thick bundles of wiring to prevent damage.
As such, there is a need for an improved wiring for aircraft, spacecraft, and other structures.